Author's quick note: This chapter is mainly Meryl and Millie (but there is a little bit of Vash). I like Millie and Meryl a lot, and both of them have personality quirks that remind me of myself (Meryl somewhat, she reminds me *cough* a little bit of myself on a bad day *more coughing* And Millie's kinda naive. . .like everybody says I am! *sobs*). They're also easier to write for, because they're girls. . .and well, being a girl myself it's just easier, ya know? I promise (for the fans) more Vash next chapter, I swear, but I do think the girls are kinda cool, (how many animes have strong women that can be innocent and sweet one minute. . .then pull out a high-caliber weapon in the next?) and I don't think they get enough fanfic attention, so they deserve this!
Me:*pulls Kuroneko out of her writer's notebook* "Disclaimer, if you please!"
Kuroneko-sama: "Nyao, Nyao. . .prrrrrrrr. . ."
Me: "In Neko-ese, that means, you can't sue me, 'cause I own nothing! Not even my college education! So don't even try!" *laughs like Knives* "On with the torture show!"
Chapter II: Party Crashers
Meryl leaned forward in the chair, rubbing at her hair with the soft white towel. She pulled it off her head and looked up, only to watch Millie giggle.
"Hey. . .what's so wrong!"
"Nothing Ma'am, it's just. . .all your hair is sticking up!"
Meryl plopped the towel back onto her head and continued to rub at her damp hair, trying to get all of the water out. She was feeling practically soaked from her run across the street!
"Well," Millie went back to washing her own clothes in the bucket. "I'm glad Mr. Vash and his brother aren't going to die! Aren't you? I mean, even if Vash does have a fever-"
"Um, I think it was pretty obvious that they weren't going to die. I mean, come on, you're talking about the "humanoid disaster" here, he lives through everything!"
"Yah, I suppose so," Millie continued to smile, "but haven't you noticed how he smiles sometimes. . .he's so sad. Inside, I don't think he feels so well at all."
The other woman looked up, surprised. Maybe Vash had been right about Millie. . .she had a funny way of getting things so right sometimes.
"Well, whatever. Anyway, they're gonna be fine," she paused, her thoughts taking over.
At least, I think so, a voice inside answered her. The doctor said that they would be fine, but then, why do I feel so terrible about it?
"Do you think Mr. Vash's brother will decide to help us out? What is Vash gonna do now that he's found him, do you know? I saw you two on that cliff last night," her smile widened, "did he tell you?"
Meryl felt her cheeks go hot. What was so wrong with her? She definitely was not in love. She'd been in love before, and this wasn't love. . .this was more like, like, craziness! She took the towel off her head and fished a brush out of the cloak she had leaned over her chair.
"Of course he DIDN'T tell me anything! I can't hardly stand him! Anyway, you better hurry up if you want to go to that party."
"Are you coming?" Millie finished scrubbing the water out of her sand-colored cloak and turned back around to grab the washtub.
"Sure, I'll go. If nothing else I guess I should just keep you from drinking too much."
"Oh, I'm not going to drink tonight."
Meryl's eyes focused on Millie while she tried to comb the tangles out of her short locks.
"Uh, but I thought you liked to drink?"
The other woman stopped moving the washtub, startled. How was she going to explain this away? Drinking was bad for the baby, but she couldn't tell Meryl yet, she wasn't ready.
"I - I just don't want to have a hangover tomorrow, you know? Someone has to look after Mr. Vash and his brother, right?" She widened her grin, trying to divert the topic while Meryl peered at her in suspicion.
"Millie, you're starting to scare me. You're actually sounding smart today."
"Thank you ma'am, now I gotta go pour this out. When I get back we can go."
Ten minutes and two new outfits later, the girls walked through the swinging doors of the White Lie Bar and Grill. The party hadn't really kicked into full swing yet, but one of the barmaids was already serving drinks to a few men up at the counter. A couple of dancing girls were setting up their act on the stage to the left of the tables in preparation, but they hadn't adjusted lights or moved their various feather boas and dancing chairs into place yet.
"Would you like something?"
The young girl serving as barmaid leaned toward them as she walked from the guys at the counter to another table, looking tired but excited. The other women realized that she was talking to them, and Millie grinned.
"How about a bannana split, yah, and what would you like, ma'am?"
"Oh, a cup of mint tea is fine for me. Where is everybody?"
She couldn't have spoken sooner, because at that moment a crowd of half-drunk revelers burst through the door, carrying beer tankards and singing as far off-key as was humanly possible.
"I'll be right back," the barmaid laughed, then shook her head and dashed off.
The men at the bar counter must have been friends with the new arrivals, because they hopped off their stools and ran over to mingle with the crowd. Meryl scrunched up her nose and made a disgusted sound before leading Millie back to a table that was both far from the stage and the drunks.
"But. . .but ma'am! I wanted to watch the show that those nice young girls are gonna put on! It looked like fun!"
The other woman shook her head. "I don't think you want to see that kind of show, it's for the boys."
"Oh," she seemed disappointed, "then Mr. Vash is going to be pretty sad, he would have loved it!"
There was no helping that girl, Meryl thought. Sometimes it was best to just let her wear her tongue out.
The barmaid came back and gave them the dessert and tea. A bunch of young boys and girls in their middle teens staggered through the bar doors, shoving each other and calling for beer. The woman wiped her brow and raced off into the kitchen, probably to get more help. The dancing girls had started their routine, and many of the young boys, not nearly drunk enough, but too stupid to care, jumped up onto the stage to dance with them. Yep, the party was definitely underway.
* * *
The blankets curled around his legs like phantom snakes, soaked with his own fever-sweat and twisted from repeated movement. His breathing increased, and he could feel his heart thudding in his throat and ears, but he couldn't open his eyes. Curling and uncurling his fingers, Vash rolled onto his side, the pain in his shoulder making him wince.
Where was he? In this land of fever-dreams Vash sunk deeper, landing on soft grass, even his dream body aching as he gained his feet. Cool wind swept over him, and everything looked so big again, like it had when he had been little.
Then, he realized the truth. He was back in the Rec Room on board the SEEDS ship. He looked around for Rem, expecting her, as he so often did in his flashback dreams. But she wasn't within sight. Instead, in the distance, young Knives stood over Legato's cooling body, looking frightened and confused and not like Knives at all. He turned to Vash, but his mouth only had time to open before the sound of a gunshot rippled over the hill they stood on, ending in a bloody hole in Knives' chest.
Vash turned, tears in his eyes as his brother fell to the ground sobbing in pain. Behind him, Cross Punisher still smoking, was Nicholas. He turned to Vash, then dropped his weapon to the grass as tears streaked down his cheeks.
"I had to do it. . .I'm. . .I'm only human Vash. . .I'm only…."
Torn between comforting his friend and helping his brother, the little boy shivered, backing away, and ran into something soft. He looked up to see Steve, grinning down at him as the man drew back his hand.
"Monster! Why did you have to go and ruin everything! You aren't human and you never will be!"
"But. . .but I. . ."
Where was he really? Would it hurt when Steve's fist came down? Too delirious to recognize the dream for the figment that it was, Vash's muscles back in his real body tensed, and he leapt off the bed with a scream of fright and anguish. The field disappeared and darkness once more claimed him, revealing the cold wooden floor beneath his cheek and the barren walls surrounding him. Still confused, his head pounding in heat-induced pain, he curled into a fetal ball, wrapped in blankets and shivering from a frigid feeling that nothing material could cure.
"Vash, honey. . .don't cry. What is there to cry about, I'm here."
Two cool feminine hands pulled his head onto a warm lap, and he looked up through tear-hazed eyes and into a face he thought that he would never see again.
"Rem. . .but how. . .um?" There she was, as unlikely as it seemed, comforting and solid, her hands surrounding him.
"Shhhh, don't get so worked up about it. Does it matter why I'm here. . .perhaps I'm not, you know?" She ruffled his hair, smiling in that sweet way that had always made him feel so warm inside.
"Don't say that," he pulled one of her hands into the only real one that he had left. Her flesh felt warm, real. But he knew that he couldn't trust what he felt anymore, too many times his heart had betrayed him. "Stay with me, here, on Gunsmoke. . .please!"
"I can't do that, you know and I know that this isn't meant to be."
"Then why did you come at all? Why?"
Sobbing like a frightened child, he sat up and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, squeezing as tightly as possible, as if it would prevent her from leaving him alone. She didn't move in his grasp, but her eyes took on the faraway look of one who is no longer focusing on the present.
"Your dreams, Vash. . .in them, you see so much of humanity. . .but you never really understand it, do you?"
"Understand. . .Rem. . .I understand nothing anymore, not even you. I couldn't honor you, I killed, and then I couldn't even save Knives without mortally wounding him. He will probably live. . .but I would have killed him, I think. It scares me. I try to do what you told me. . .but when I needed you, you weren't there, and then Nick died, and you weren't there either! I didn't know what to do!"
"I can't hold your hand forever."
The shock of these words made Vash look up.
"You're my little boy, and I love you more then anything. But you are a man now, and even though I don't love you any less, I still know that you can't live the life I would have lived. Not on Gunsmoke, and not as a plant. You need to make your own path, like you told me, if you ever hope to find peace. . .any peace at all."
"But I don't understand humans! I try…I try so hard, but I can't even understand my own brother. He hates so much, I don't know what to do with him. I've brought him back with me, but now what should I do?"
"Love him, follow your heart, help him follow his. You've seen that he's not completely gone. . .but his soul is so far from peace now that it will take more then you to help him. . .I don't know. . .I just don't know honey. Your ticket to the future is always blank, but this time, it is also going to be a little worn."
"God must hate me," he sighed, "I try and try and try, and what do I get? Rem. . .Rem?"
Vash realized that the comforting warmth in his arms was gone, but there was now a soft humming in his head. She was humming Sound Life.
"Sleep. . .sleep little Vash, feel peace, sleep."
He crawled back into the bed, sniffling, and sobbed himself to sleep as Rem whispered Sound Life for him alone.
* * *
"Hmmmm, they can't see us from this distance, can they? And how sweet, they're having a little party!"
The light of three full moons flooded the desert, casting long shadows over the brittle sand, and dissipating above a gully where six forms curled in waiting positions. A seventh dashed away from the town, slipping like a shadow between sinkholes and quicksand pockets. One of the shadowed forms standing with the others stood up from its crouch, its features unreadable in the darkness.
The approaching figure twisted along the side of one of the dunes, and it then became obvious that, whatever it was, it wasn't human. It swung down the side of the dune, huge paws crunching the sand with dry rasping noises. The human figure that had been watching it stepped up, raising a hand.
"What did you see out there…was HE there?"
:I, it was too closed in to see well:, the creature spoke to the human's mind, its inner voice rough and tired, :but. . .I did smell him, and something else odd.:
"What was so odd?" The other's voice took on an interested lilting quality, intrigued that there could be more excitement this night then what they had already planned.
:Not sure. . .maybe he isn't alone?: The long shadow hunched itself, frightened by the other's tone of voice.
"Well, I don't care. One way or another, this is going to be fun. Come on boys and girls, lets party!"
The other five figures growled, eyes flashing yellow in the night as they rose to all fours. Then, as one, the seven shapes dashed toward the town.
* * *
"Oh look Meryl, it's that little black kitty that's always following Mr. Vash around!"
Meryl peered under the table where her partner was pointing, only to see a cat with the biggest eyes in the history of Gunsmoke staring at her with the hungriest expression she had ever seen a feline manage.
"Here you go, Mrs. Kitty!" Millie put her half-finished dessert under the table, and watched the cat dig in with nothing short of delight. "Oh, look. . .it's so happy now!"
The other woman looked up and rolled her eyes. "I need more tea, I think. This is gonna be a long night. So where is that barmaid anyway?"
The young girl that had helped them earlier was currently wiping beer off the front of her blouse and wondering if she was getting a raise for this. She thought that, if she didn't, then someone in whatever Heaven was reserved for those of Gunsmoke must really hate her.
She needed a drink of water, but then there was an actual knock at the closed door, and nobody else seemed to have heard it. Why would someone knock at all? They could just come in, or didn't everyone know that? Beating the washcloth she had used to wipe at the beer against her legs, she marched over to the door, avoiding grabs and pinches by various unwashed male hands.
"Uh, hello? You can come in, you know. You don't have to. . .um. . .AHHHHHHH!"
Screeching at the top of her lungs, she made a lunge for the wall, away from the swinging bar doors and the darkness beyond. But the darkness followed her, flowing into the bar in the form of three huge catlike shapes.
At her scream, many of the tables occupants turned around, and the girls on the stage froze, eyes wide.
The bartender dropped the glass he was rubbing over and pulled a shotgun out from under the counter, cursing loudly.
"Hey, what's a bunch of sandcats doing in town anyways! You, git!"
He fired a warning shot at one of the tawny-brown shapes, and the creature turned its four eyes on him, snarling and unsheathing its claws, but not backing down.
"It's okay brother, I won't let him shoot you."
A human-like figure, clad in robes and a hood the same color as the cats stepped in behind them, three other vicious-looking beasts watching its back. The voice was vaguely masculine, enough to confirm that, whoever this was, they were a young man. He reached down and caressed the creatures head, and it rubbed against his hand, fangs flashing in the light of many smoky lamps. Silence filled the bar.
"I heard you were having a party. . .am I right?"
"We may be that," the bartender called back, "but men like you aren't invited, only townies!"
"Ah," the young man whispered, almost too low for any but those closest to the door to hear. "I smell people in here that don't belong to this town. . .don't I?"
"Smell?" The bartender looked appalled, "who the hell are you?"
"Hmmm," the figure put a finger to his lips, "that's a bit easier to answer. I'm your death!"
One of the sandcats grabbed a man at the table closest to them, ripping into his shoulders with its claws and dragging him screaming out into the darkness and its siblings beyond the door. There were sounds of cracking and snarling in the background as the man's pleas were abruptly cut off. The bartender turned white, then, looking furious, stepped out from behind his counter.
"Who do you think you are, coming in here and ruining our party! You just killed that man, and he didn't do nothin' to you! Let us know what you want, then get out!"
"Better yet," Meryl stood up and slid in between tables until she was standing only a few feet from the intruder, Millie right behind. "Why don't you just get out!"
"Oh, lookit' the little lady. You're kinda cute honey, really. But I don't have time for you right now, so why don't you get back to me in a couple minutes?"
"I'm serious," she pulled out one of her derringers and slid to the side in a proper shooting stance. "You get out or we carry you out."
"Yah," Millie added, trying to look threatening, which really wasn't a Millie thing at all. She just ended up looking confused.
One of the sandcats growled, licking its whiskers as it looked over the girls. Millie noticed the way it was looking at Meryl, and pulled out her stungun.
"Tell your ugly kitty to stop looking at Meryl that way, or I'm gonna make it go to sleep!" She aimed the huge gun barrel at the beast, actually looking like she meant it.
"Umm, OK...," the man grimaced in what could only be shocked surprise. "Sure, sure, calm down big girl...uh, and her short friend. Yah, I'll tell you what I want. Sister, get over here!"
The sandcat that had been looking at the girls like they were a main course snorted and turned away, going back to the others that were milling outside the building.
"So, here's what I want. I'm actually looking for a man, maybe you've seen him? He's over six feet, but not by much, pretty skinny last I seen. He. . .his name is Millions Knives, and he owes me. Yes, you wouldn't believe how much he owes me."
Unconsciously, Meryl felt her body tense. What could this man possibly want with Vash's brother? As far as she had heard, no one who actually met Knives ever lived to tell others about it.
"Um. . .we don't know who this 'Knives' is," Millie lied, causing Meryl to give her a sharp glance. "So why don't you just leave. We can't help you."
The man glanced around the room, then sighed, his shoulders slumping.
"Once again, you lie to me. And not too well either, I might add. Knives is here. . .somewhere in this town. I won't bother to look for him, it was as obvious to me then as it is now that he is too much of a coward to face me as I am. Very well."
"Leave already," Meryl snarled, "you're dumb blabbering is wasting our time!"
"Yes," he looked down at her, and even through the darkness of his hood, she could feel his stare, "and no. I am not through with Knives yet, because he and I share a destiny, one which he has brought upon himself. Since he will not come forth, I give him ten days to prepare whatever feeble advantage against me he might have. In ten days I will return to this town, and if I do not see Knives. . .then," his eyes scanned the room, "I will hunt down every last one of you in this room, and end each of your pitiful existences. . .slowly. And I can do that, so do not try to run, that only makes it more fun for my siblings here."
He turned to go, cloak sliding along the floorboards, rasping against his leather boots.
"Oh," he whispered, "and one more thing. Tell Knives that Caverral the Demon says hi."
The swinging doors creaked on their hinges, leaving the entrance empty. Meryl looked up at Millie, who was sliding her stun gun back under her smock. Slowly, the other woman followed suit and holstered her derringer.
Behind them, everything remained silent, as if no one quite knew what to say or do.
"Ma'am," Millie leaned down, "I think we've got a problem."
Meryl just shook her head.
Endnotes: Well, my college journalism class has me down….those seven 250 word essays per lesson are killing me! So cut me some slack, my little fingers are tired. Therefore, the next update will take a couple more days. Hold your horses, you could use some suspense, couldn't you? Check back then, and until that time, review for me, I'll love you forever….really! And I'll try my hardest to review for you!
Me:*pulls Kuroneko out of her writer's notebook* "Disclaimer, if you please!"
Kuroneko-sama: "Nyao, Nyao. . .prrrrrrrr. . ."
Me: "In Neko-ese, that means, you can't sue me, 'cause I own nothing! Not even my college education! So don't even try!" *laughs like Knives* "On with the torture show!"
Chapter II: Party Crashers
Meryl leaned forward in the chair, rubbing at her hair with the soft white towel. She pulled it off her head and looked up, only to watch Millie giggle.
"Hey. . .what's so wrong!"
"Nothing Ma'am, it's just. . .all your hair is sticking up!"
Meryl plopped the towel back onto her head and continued to rub at her damp hair, trying to get all of the water out. She was feeling practically soaked from her run across the street!
"Well," Millie went back to washing her own clothes in the bucket. "I'm glad Mr. Vash and his brother aren't going to die! Aren't you? I mean, even if Vash does have a fever-"
"Um, I think it was pretty obvious that they weren't going to die. I mean, come on, you're talking about the "humanoid disaster" here, he lives through everything!"
"Yah, I suppose so," Millie continued to smile, "but haven't you noticed how he smiles sometimes. . .he's so sad. Inside, I don't think he feels so well at all."
The other woman looked up, surprised. Maybe Vash had been right about Millie. . .she had a funny way of getting things so right sometimes.
"Well, whatever. Anyway, they're gonna be fine," she paused, her thoughts taking over.
At least, I think so, a voice inside answered her. The doctor said that they would be fine, but then, why do I feel so terrible about it?
"Do you think Mr. Vash's brother will decide to help us out? What is Vash gonna do now that he's found him, do you know? I saw you two on that cliff last night," her smile widened, "did he tell you?"
Meryl felt her cheeks go hot. What was so wrong with her? She definitely was not in love. She'd been in love before, and this wasn't love. . .this was more like, like, craziness! She took the towel off her head and fished a brush out of the cloak she had leaned over her chair.
"Of course he DIDN'T tell me anything! I can't hardly stand him! Anyway, you better hurry up if you want to go to that party."
"Are you coming?" Millie finished scrubbing the water out of her sand-colored cloak and turned back around to grab the washtub.
"Sure, I'll go. If nothing else I guess I should just keep you from drinking too much."
"Oh, I'm not going to drink tonight."
Meryl's eyes focused on Millie while she tried to comb the tangles out of her short locks.
"Uh, but I thought you liked to drink?"
The other woman stopped moving the washtub, startled. How was she going to explain this away? Drinking was bad for the baby, but she couldn't tell Meryl yet, she wasn't ready.
"I - I just don't want to have a hangover tomorrow, you know? Someone has to look after Mr. Vash and his brother, right?" She widened her grin, trying to divert the topic while Meryl peered at her in suspicion.
"Millie, you're starting to scare me. You're actually sounding smart today."
"Thank you ma'am, now I gotta go pour this out. When I get back we can go."
Ten minutes and two new outfits later, the girls walked through the swinging doors of the White Lie Bar and Grill. The party hadn't really kicked into full swing yet, but one of the barmaids was already serving drinks to a few men up at the counter. A couple of dancing girls were setting up their act on the stage to the left of the tables in preparation, but they hadn't adjusted lights or moved their various feather boas and dancing chairs into place yet.
"Would you like something?"
The young girl serving as barmaid leaned toward them as she walked from the guys at the counter to another table, looking tired but excited. The other women realized that she was talking to them, and Millie grinned.
"How about a bannana split, yah, and what would you like, ma'am?"
"Oh, a cup of mint tea is fine for me. Where is everybody?"
She couldn't have spoken sooner, because at that moment a crowd of half-drunk revelers burst through the door, carrying beer tankards and singing as far off-key as was humanly possible.
"I'll be right back," the barmaid laughed, then shook her head and dashed off.
The men at the bar counter must have been friends with the new arrivals, because they hopped off their stools and ran over to mingle with the crowd. Meryl scrunched up her nose and made a disgusted sound before leading Millie back to a table that was both far from the stage and the drunks.
"But. . .but ma'am! I wanted to watch the show that those nice young girls are gonna put on! It looked like fun!"
The other woman shook her head. "I don't think you want to see that kind of show, it's for the boys."
"Oh," she seemed disappointed, "then Mr. Vash is going to be pretty sad, he would have loved it!"
There was no helping that girl, Meryl thought. Sometimes it was best to just let her wear her tongue out.
The barmaid came back and gave them the dessert and tea. A bunch of young boys and girls in their middle teens staggered through the bar doors, shoving each other and calling for beer. The woman wiped her brow and raced off into the kitchen, probably to get more help. The dancing girls had started their routine, and many of the young boys, not nearly drunk enough, but too stupid to care, jumped up onto the stage to dance with them. Yep, the party was definitely underway.
* * *
The blankets curled around his legs like phantom snakes, soaked with his own fever-sweat and twisted from repeated movement. His breathing increased, and he could feel his heart thudding in his throat and ears, but he couldn't open his eyes. Curling and uncurling his fingers, Vash rolled onto his side, the pain in his shoulder making him wince.
Where was he? In this land of fever-dreams Vash sunk deeper, landing on soft grass, even his dream body aching as he gained his feet. Cool wind swept over him, and everything looked so big again, like it had when he had been little.
Then, he realized the truth. He was back in the Rec Room on board the SEEDS ship. He looked around for Rem, expecting her, as he so often did in his flashback dreams. But she wasn't within sight. Instead, in the distance, young Knives stood over Legato's cooling body, looking frightened and confused and not like Knives at all. He turned to Vash, but his mouth only had time to open before the sound of a gunshot rippled over the hill they stood on, ending in a bloody hole in Knives' chest.
Vash turned, tears in his eyes as his brother fell to the ground sobbing in pain. Behind him, Cross Punisher still smoking, was Nicholas. He turned to Vash, then dropped his weapon to the grass as tears streaked down his cheeks.
"I had to do it. . .I'm. . .I'm only human Vash. . .I'm only…."
Torn between comforting his friend and helping his brother, the little boy shivered, backing away, and ran into something soft. He looked up to see Steve, grinning down at him as the man drew back his hand.
"Monster! Why did you have to go and ruin everything! You aren't human and you never will be!"
"But. . .but I. . ."
Where was he really? Would it hurt when Steve's fist came down? Too delirious to recognize the dream for the figment that it was, Vash's muscles back in his real body tensed, and he leapt off the bed with a scream of fright and anguish. The field disappeared and darkness once more claimed him, revealing the cold wooden floor beneath his cheek and the barren walls surrounding him. Still confused, his head pounding in heat-induced pain, he curled into a fetal ball, wrapped in blankets and shivering from a frigid feeling that nothing material could cure.
"Vash, honey. . .don't cry. What is there to cry about, I'm here."
Two cool feminine hands pulled his head onto a warm lap, and he looked up through tear-hazed eyes and into a face he thought that he would never see again.
"Rem. . .but how. . .um?" There she was, as unlikely as it seemed, comforting and solid, her hands surrounding him.
"Shhhh, don't get so worked up about it. Does it matter why I'm here. . .perhaps I'm not, you know?" She ruffled his hair, smiling in that sweet way that had always made him feel so warm inside.
"Don't say that," he pulled one of her hands into the only real one that he had left. Her flesh felt warm, real. But he knew that he couldn't trust what he felt anymore, too many times his heart had betrayed him. "Stay with me, here, on Gunsmoke. . .please!"
"I can't do that, you know and I know that this isn't meant to be."
"Then why did you come at all? Why?"
Sobbing like a frightened child, he sat up and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, squeezing as tightly as possible, as if it would prevent her from leaving him alone. She didn't move in his grasp, but her eyes took on the faraway look of one who is no longer focusing on the present.
"Your dreams, Vash. . .in them, you see so much of humanity. . .but you never really understand it, do you?"
"Understand. . .Rem. . .I understand nothing anymore, not even you. I couldn't honor you, I killed, and then I couldn't even save Knives without mortally wounding him. He will probably live. . .but I would have killed him, I think. It scares me. I try to do what you told me. . .but when I needed you, you weren't there, and then Nick died, and you weren't there either! I didn't know what to do!"
"I can't hold your hand forever."
The shock of these words made Vash look up.
"You're my little boy, and I love you more then anything. But you are a man now, and even though I don't love you any less, I still know that you can't live the life I would have lived. Not on Gunsmoke, and not as a plant. You need to make your own path, like you told me, if you ever hope to find peace. . .any peace at all."
"But I don't understand humans! I try…I try so hard, but I can't even understand my own brother. He hates so much, I don't know what to do with him. I've brought him back with me, but now what should I do?"
"Love him, follow your heart, help him follow his. You've seen that he's not completely gone. . .but his soul is so far from peace now that it will take more then you to help him. . .I don't know. . .I just don't know honey. Your ticket to the future is always blank, but this time, it is also going to be a little worn."
"God must hate me," he sighed, "I try and try and try, and what do I get? Rem. . .Rem?"
Vash realized that the comforting warmth in his arms was gone, but there was now a soft humming in his head. She was humming Sound Life.
"Sleep. . .sleep little Vash, feel peace, sleep."
He crawled back into the bed, sniffling, and sobbed himself to sleep as Rem whispered Sound Life for him alone.
* * *
"Hmmmm, they can't see us from this distance, can they? And how sweet, they're having a little party!"
The light of three full moons flooded the desert, casting long shadows over the brittle sand, and dissipating above a gully where six forms curled in waiting positions. A seventh dashed away from the town, slipping like a shadow between sinkholes and quicksand pockets. One of the shadowed forms standing with the others stood up from its crouch, its features unreadable in the darkness.
The approaching figure twisted along the side of one of the dunes, and it then became obvious that, whatever it was, it wasn't human. It swung down the side of the dune, huge paws crunching the sand with dry rasping noises. The human figure that had been watching it stepped up, raising a hand.
"What did you see out there…was HE there?"
:I, it was too closed in to see well:, the creature spoke to the human's mind, its inner voice rough and tired, :but. . .I did smell him, and something else odd.:
"What was so odd?" The other's voice took on an interested lilting quality, intrigued that there could be more excitement this night then what they had already planned.
:Not sure. . .maybe he isn't alone?: The long shadow hunched itself, frightened by the other's tone of voice.
"Well, I don't care. One way or another, this is going to be fun. Come on boys and girls, lets party!"
The other five figures growled, eyes flashing yellow in the night as they rose to all fours. Then, as one, the seven shapes dashed toward the town.
* * *
"Oh look Meryl, it's that little black kitty that's always following Mr. Vash around!"
Meryl peered under the table where her partner was pointing, only to see a cat with the biggest eyes in the history of Gunsmoke staring at her with the hungriest expression she had ever seen a feline manage.
"Here you go, Mrs. Kitty!" Millie put her half-finished dessert under the table, and watched the cat dig in with nothing short of delight. "Oh, look. . .it's so happy now!"
The other woman looked up and rolled her eyes. "I need more tea, I think. This is gonna be a long night. So where is that barmaid anyway?"
The young girl that had helped them earlier was currently wiping beer off the front of her blouse and wondering if she was getting a raise for this. She thought that, if she didn't, then someone in whatever Heaven was reserved for those of Gunsmoke must really hate her.
She needed a drink of water, but then there was an actual knock at the closed door, and nobody else seemed to have heard it. Why would someone knock at all? They could just come in, or didn't everyone know that? Beating the washcloth she had used to wipe at the beer against her legs, she marched over to the door, avoiding grabs and pinches by various unwashed male hands.
"Uh, hello? You can come in, you know. You don't have to. . .um. . .AHHHHHHH!"
Screeching at the top of her lungs, she made a lunge for the wall, away from the swinging bar doors and the darkness beyond. But the darkness followed her, flowing into the bar in the form of three huge catlike shapes.
At her scream, many of the tables occupants turned around, and the girls on the stage froze, eyes wide.
The bartender dropped the glass he was rubbing over and pulled a shotgun out from under the counter, cursing loudly.
"Hey, what's a bunch of sandcats doing in town anyways! You, git!"
He fired a warning shot at one of the tawny-brown shapes, and the creature turned its four eyes on him, snarling and unsheathing its claws, but not backing down.
"It's okay brother, I won't let him shoot you."
A human-like figure, clad in robes and a hood the same color as the cats stepped in behind them, three other vicious-looking beasts watching its back. The voice was vaguely masculine, enough to confirm that, whoever this was, they were a young man. He reached down and caressed the creatures head, and it rubbed against his hand, fangs flashing in the light of many smoky lamps. Silence filled the bar.
"I heard you were having a party. . .am I right?"
"We may be that," the bartender called back, "but men like you aren't invited, only townies!"
"Ah," the young man whispered, almost too low for any but those closest to the door to hear. "I smell people in here that don't belong to this town. . .don't I?"
"Smell?" The bartender looked appalled, "who the hell are you?"
"Hmmm," the figure put a finger to his lips, "that's a bit easier to answer. I'm your death!"
One of the sandcats grabbed a man at the table closest to them, ripping into his shoulders with its claws and dragging him screaming out into the darkness and its siblings beyond the door. There were sounds of cracking and snarling in the background as the man's pleas were abruptly cut off. The bartender turned white, then, looking furious, stepped out from behind his counter.
"Who do you think you are, coming in here and ruining our party! You just killed that man, and he didn't do nothin' to you! Let us know what you want, then get out!"
"Better yet," Meryl stood up and slid in between tables until she was standing only a few feet from the intruder, Millie right behind. "Why don't you just get out!"
"Oh, lookit' the little lady. You're kinda cute honey, really. But I don't have time for you right now, so why don't you get back to me in a couple minutes?"
"I'm serious," she pulled out one of her derringers and slid to the side in a proper shooting stance. "You get out or we carry you out."
"Yah," Millie added, trying to look threatening, which really wasn't a Millie thing at all. She just ended up looking confused.
One of the sandcats growled, licking its whiskers as it looked over the girls. Millie noticed the way it was looking at Meryl, and pulled out her stungun.
"Tell your ugly kitty to stop looking at Meryl that way, or I'm gonna make it go to sleep!" She aimed the huge gun barrel at the beast, actually looking like she meant it.
"Umm, OK...," the man grimaced in what could only be shocked surprise. "Sure, sure, calm down big girl...uh, and her short friend. Yah, I'll tell you what I want. Sister, get over here!"
The sandcat that had been looking at the girls like they were a main course snorted and turned away, going back to the others that were milling outside the building.
"So, here's what I want. I'm actually looking for a man, maybe you've seen him? He's over six feet, but not by much, pretty skinny last I seen. He. . .his name is Millions Knives, and he owes me. Yes, you wouldn't believe how much he owes me."
Unconsciously, Meryl felt her body tense. What could this man possibly want with Vash's brother? As far as she had heard, no one who actually met Knives ever lived to tell others about it.
"Um. . .we don't know who this 'Knives' is," Millie lied, causing Meryl to give her a sharp glance. "So why don't you just leave. We can't help you."
The man glanced around the room, then sighed, his shoulders slumping.
"Once again, you lie to me. And not too well either, I might add. Knives is here. . .somewhere in this town. I won't bother to look for him, it was as obvious to me then as it is now that he is too much of a coward to face me as I am. Very well."
"Leave already," Meryl snarled, "you're dumb blabbering is wasting our time!"
"Yes," he looked down at her, and even through the darkness of his hood, she could feel his stare, "and no. I am not through with Knives yet, because he and I share a destiny, one which he has brought upon himself. Since he will not come forth, I give him ten days to prepare whatever feeble advantage against me he might have. In ten days I will return to this town, and if I do not see Knives. . .then," his eyes scanned the room, "I will hunt down every last one of you in this room, and end each of your pitiful existences. . .slowly. And I can do that, so do not try to run, that only makes it more fun for my siblings here."
He turned to go, cloak sliding along the floorboards, rasping against his leather boots.
"Oh," he whispered, "and one more thing. Tell Knives that Caverral the Demon says hi."
The swinging doors creaked on their hinges, leaving the entrance empty. Meryl looked up at Millie, who was sliding her stun gun back under her smock. Slowly, the other woman followed suit and holstered her derringer.
Behind them, everything remained silent, as if no one quite knew what to say or do.
"Ma'am," Millie leaned down, "I think we've got a problem."
Meryl just shook her head.
Endnotes: Well, my college journalism class has me down….those seven 250 word essays per lesson are killing me! So cut me some slack, my little fingers are tired. Therefore, the next update will take a couple more days. Hold your horses, you could use some suspense, couldn't you? Check back then, and until that time, review for me, I'll love you forever….really! And I'll try my hardest to review for you!